Nielsen Bottom 10, February 15th-21st, 1988

Week 22 of the 1987-1988 season started on Monday, February 15th, 1988 and ended on Sunday, February 21st, 1988. The highest-rated program was the Winter Olympics (Tuesday) on ABC with a 25.5/39 Nielsen rating/share and 33.7 million viewers according to AGB Television Research.

Here are the 10 lowest-rated programs on TV during Week 22 of the 1987-1988 season:

## Program Network Rating Viewers
44 Cagney & Lacey CBS 11.9/19 16,300,000
  The Equalizer CBS 11.9/19 14,700,000
  Tour of Duty CBS 11.9/17 15,400,000
  DTV Doggone Hits NBC 11.9/19 18,900,000
48 Wiseguy CBS 11.4/19 12,400,000
49 Sonny Spoon NBC 11.3/19 15,300,000
50 High Mountain Rangers CBS 10.2/17 15,100,000
51 Jake and the Fatman CBS 9.6/14 11,800,000
52 Houston Knights CBS 9.3/15 13,700,000
53 Clown College Party CBS 8.8/14 11,600,000
54 West 57th CBS 6.2/11 9,500,000
55 Primary Report NBC 5.4/9 6,500,000
56 48 Hours CBS 5.1/8 5,400,000

Copyright A.C. Nielsen Co. and AGB Television Research

Note: USA Today did not begin including FOX programming in its weekly rating charts until December 1988.

The Winter Olympics continued on ABC this week while CBS and NBC did their best to draw viewers during the February “sweeps” period with made-for-TV movies and specials. I’ve included the four different programs that tied for the 44th spot on the Nielsen chart in the above table because they’re all in the Bottom 10, technically. Of those 13 programs, 10 were on CBS and the remaining there were on NBC.

In its fifth week, 48 Hours (Tuesday, February 16th) on CBS sunk to the very bottom of the chart, drawing a minuscule 5.1 rating and just an 8% share of the audience. And yet the show is still on the air today. That same night, NBC aired a special report about the New Hampshire primary from 10-11PM that drew a slightly larger audience and ranked as the week’s second lowest-rated program.

On Wednesday, February 17th from 8-9PM, CBS aired an hour-long “Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Baily Clown College 20th Anniversary” special on Wednesday, February 17th. It ranked 53rd for the week. Surprisingly, NBC’s repeat of “Disney’s DTV ‘Doggone’ Hits,” which originally aired in February 1987, tied for 44th on Friday, February 19th.

Because ABC’s entire lineup consisted of the Olympics, there were only 56 programs aired this week, down considerably from 68 the week before and 72 the week before that. Several shows that usually wouldn’t be at the bottom of the Nielsen chart were this week because of the Olympics, including Cagney & Lacey, Wiseguy, and Jake and the Fatman.

Likewise, the second episode of NBC’s Sonny Spoon on Friday, February 19th landed in the Bottom 10. It received an 11.3 rating, a minor drop from the 12.0 rating the series premiere averaged the previous week, when it ranked 49th out of 68 programs.

Also of note: Return of Desperado (NBC, Monday, February 15th) ranked 23rd for the week; A Year in the Life (NBC, Wednesday, February 10th) tied for 42nd; Noble House (Part 1) (NBC, Sunday, February 21st) ranked 16th; and Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis (CBS, Sunday, February 21st) tied for 28th.

Source:
“Using this chart.” USA Today. 24 Feb. 1988: 03.d


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One Reply to “Nielsen Bottom 10, February 15th-21st, 1988”

  1. In case you’re curious, DTV Doggone Hits was a special in which clips of Pluto were remixed with popular songs. And yes, Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis was a reunion of the popular sitcom!

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